Other ABC News Sites

Push to get more Americans eating Aussie lamb

Meat and Livestock Australia would like to see more Americans eating Australian lamb.

Rose Grant

Australians eat 20 times more lamb than Americans, leaving plenty of room to get more Aussie chops on more American dinner tables.

That's according to David Pietsch, North American regional manager of Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), the industry's peak marketing and research and development body.

Although Australia's exports of lamb to the United States are increasing, up 5 per cent this year, Mr Pietsch says there's plenty of room for growth.

"Americans eat very little lamb. They eat about a pound (approximately 0.5 kilograms) per person per year, so Australians actually eat about 20 times the amount of lamb that the Americans do.

"So it's a very small, very niche commodity in the US.

"There's lots of potential. We're dealing with 320 million people over here, so even if we can get them to eat it another couple of times a year it can have a substantial impact in terms of our exports to the market."

Mr Pietsch says the biggest challenge is to get more American consumers to choose lamb over cheaper protein options.

"We conduct a number of marketing activities, predominantly at the point of purchase, so we're looking at trying to entice them while they're in their store looking to make that purchasing decision.

"Or indeed if they're in a restaurant, how do we get them to take the plunge and give lamb a try."

Global business marketing manager Stephen Edwards says MLA takes a different marketing approach to different countries.

"It actually differs quite a lot in different regions. In the Middles East, obviously, lamb is a very sought after protein.

"So our marketing there is not necessarily about trying to educate people on using lamb and how to cook with it; it's about using Australian lamb over New Zealand lamb or Indian lamb or even Pakistani lamb."

He says using Aussie larrikin Sam Kekovich as a 'lambassador' doesn't quite cut it in overseas markets.

"I don't think many people outside of Australia get the Sam Keckovich thing. While they see it's every colourful and very funny, I don't know it has too much cut through with them."